Fiberweb v Geofabrics [2021] EWCA Civ 854

First published by EPLAW on 26 July 2021.

Background

The UK Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Fiberweb against a finding of Mr David Stone (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) that Geofabric's patent relating to trackbed liners for railways was valid and infringed.

The patent related to liners aimed at limiting erosion of the trackbed of railway tracks caused by the repeated and rapid application of pressure from the passage of trains causing water, clay, and silt particles to be squeezed out of the trackbed. Such liners work by being permeable to water, but not solid particles, under the pressure of a passing train. The key integer of the patent required the liner to be: "normally impermeable by liquid water, that is in the absence of the load of a vehicle acting on the trackbed".